THE GREAT ESCAPE

WE DON’T NEED THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER TO tell us riding solo is a great way to ensure social distancing. Whether it’s out on the road, in the spare bedroom at home or hiding away in the garage or shed, the COVID-19 crisis has reminded us what it feels like to ride alone. Of course, a solitary sojourn during lockdown is a very different beast to spending all day in the purgatory of a solo breakaway, rolling imaginary turns with yourself as a heaving professional peloton nips menacingly at your heels. In such instances, the isolation of the road and its associated suffering brings many challenges – both physical and mental – all of which typically play out on our television screens in a cycling-themed voyeurism not dissimilar to The Truman Show. Simultaneously entertaining, compelling and brutal. Will he or she make it?

DEATH OR GLORY

Professional cycling has witnessed some remarkable long-range solo attacks during the decades. Sometimes it’s entirely planned, such as Chris Froome’s audaciously pre-meditated 80km attack on the Colle delle Finestre that turned the 2018 Giro d’Italia on its head. But much of the time